


Your Worries Can Be Cloaked By The Blanket Of Night

by two_drama_nerds_in_a_boat



Category: Lumberjanes
Genre: Gen, Lumberjanes Issue 75, Short & Sweet, Surprisingly Fluffy But There Is Mild Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:08:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28376712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/two_drama_nerds_in_a_boat/pseuds/two_drama_nerds_in_a_boat
Summary: When the world is ending, we can sing and we can play,dancing in the forest as we laugh our lives away.Or, what happened at dusk, before the Roanokes went to sleep and Molly ran away.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Your Worries Can Be Cloaked By The Blanket Of Night

**Author's Note:**

> I FINALLY READ LUMBERJANES END OF SUMMER YEEHAW

They tell the younger kids it's a slumber party. Something to celebrate the end of summer, and the promise of coming back next year. 

The younger kids know they're lying. 

"The yeti's are here," a little girl says matter-of-factly to Jo. "And all the big bugs, and the mermaids and the selkies. And the selkies _never_ come." 

Jo looks at her sash, covered in badges like she was waiting to show her parents. She's only at Seedpod level, not even a Sapling yet. She's got a few badges - Pungeon Master, May The Forge Be With You, Daylight Savor - and she sewed them on herself, by the looks of it. Maybe her counselor helped her out with the first one. Jo wants to ask her where her counselor is, wants to find someone else to take this poor kid off her hands, but then Jo remembers that Marley said. _We did a head count and we have all the scouts, but..._

She realizes that Jen was one of the lucky ones. 

"Everything's gonna be okay," Jo tells the girl, managing to spit the lie out even though it's catching between her teeth. "It's just a slumber party. Then you get to go home in the morning, and it'll be fun." 

The kid opens her mouth to say something else, but Jo's gone before she has the chance. 

April's sitting in a hammock, one of the ones the Roswell's tied up high near the ceiling. Upon second glance, Jo realizes that Ripley's up there, too, though not for long - as soon as she spots Jo, she's speeding down the beam in a hurry, and before she knows it Jo sees an orange t-shirt and a streak of blue at her side. 

"Are we sleeping up there?" Asks Jo. 

"Nah, Dighton called dibs," April says. "But they're letting us hang out up here while they check on the moose stables. Looking for stragglers, folks who mighta been left behind." 

"Me and April were looking through her scrapbook!" Ripley says, buzzing with excitement. You wouldn't think that a horrible catastrophic event was currently threatening to literally consume all of their lives. Except that Ripley's always like this, or at least, seems to be: bright and glittery and jumping up-and-down, with a grin so wide and toothy you could see how (The Other) Jonesy was willing to accept her as one of her own. 

There's a noise from above, and Jo sees that April's started to shimmy down to the ground, now. She's got a satchel over her shoulder - Jo's satchel, she realizes - and her scrapbook's under her arm. April lands with a small _Thud!_ on the ground in front of them, strikes a Spider-Man pose, and then stands, reaching out her elbow to Jo. 

Elbow bump. 

Bring it up. 

Lock thumbs. 

Wiggly fingers. 

Peace sign. 

The handshake is surprisingly calming, though maybe it shouldn't be. It reminds Jo that she's still here. She's still with April. The world is ending, not yet, not if they've got any say in it. Ripley lets out a small, longing sigh. 

"I wish _I_ had a secret handshake buddy." 

The sun's setting outside the windows, and the girls stand there and watch it go down. All of them. Every cabin - Cosmos, Zodiac, Dighton, Luna, Woolpit, Eclipse, Roswell, Dyatlov, Aurora, Walcott, Dartmoor, Xena, Voynich, Roanoke. They stand, some clustered close together, others turned away. On each other's shoulders, in arms, in hugs and embraces and one impressive cheerleading lift from the Xena cabin, who've been working on it all summer and haven't had the time to show it off before. They watch the sun go down over the forest, and then it's gone. 

For the first time in the world, the forest is silent. 

Mal pulls out her guitar. 

"Me and Emily and Wren have been working on something," she says. "I was helping them get some campfire song badges the other day."

Someone lights a small fire in the mess hall fireplace. Mal takes a seat right beside it, the warm glow making her seem braver than she is. Emily and Wren sit beside her, because they've already been dragged into this, whether they like it or not, and honestly, their song isn't half bad (at least, that was the verdict with Mackenzie when they sang it for her - they were technically supposed to run it past _three_ people to get the badge, but Vanessa didn't need to know that). 

" _When the world is ending we can sing and we can play, dancing in the forest as we laugh our lives away. Watch the stars go out my Lumberjane, and catch them one by one. Never know the place you go that changed your fear to fun."_

Bubbles bounces off of Molly's head and scurries over to Ripley. They bow at each other and then begin to dance. It's not long before others join in. Mackenzie and Feryal start square-dancing. April and Jo never quite got their Go Ball-istic badges, but they manage. When someone trips, someone else catches them, and everyone laughs. Mal, Wren, and Emily's song has a tempo that's surprisingly upbeat. No one listens to the words. 

When it's over, Mal sings them some cool indie song no one's ever heard of, and then a Disney request from a girl in Aurora (it's mostly improv'd, and some other girls jump in to help Mal find the chords, but overall she doesn't do a half-bad job), and then Lumberjanes Way, and then they tire themselves out and Seafarin' Karen (left in charge of the kids, left to guard them and make sure nothing bad happens to them) tells them they "ought to be gettin' some shuteye, dontcha think" and then before they know it they're off to bed.

They tuck themselves into sleeping bags, hammocks, makeshift beds, literal beds (some of the girls in Voynich and Eclipse just got their Wood You Or Wouldn't You woodworking badges, and are feeling handy right now) and someone sings a lullaby, though no one could tell you who. The counselors are noticeably absent; Vanessa's watching the perimeter by the volleyball courts, and Jen's on the porch of Rosie's cabin, and the others are all scattered somewhere in-between. The Roanokes are right in the middle of it all (because aren't they always?) fast asleep in the center of the mess hall. 

Five girls sleeping, all in a row. Molly, Mal, Ripley, April, Jo. 

Mal dreams about falling through the ocean. Ripley dreams of dinosaurs and cats, all named Jonesy, and siblings she's been missing for a while. April's punching something in her dream - she thinks it's a fox, but she's not sure. Jo's competing in a robotics contest against someone she doesn't quite recognize.

Molly dreams about a silver deer, racing through the forest, beckoning her softly to follow. The deer has antlers, a large, proud rack, but Molly knows its a girl. She has a bow around her neck, and a quiver of arrows. She's... she's going off to go fight something.

Molly wakes up. 

**Author's Note:**

> please leave comments and kudos :D


End file.
